Cristiana Cerri gambarelli
- non-formal education
- Just Transition
- hackathons
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Type of expert
Facilitator
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Age
29 years
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Country of residence
Belgium
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Languages
English, German, Italian, Spanish
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Gender
Female
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Availability
3 months
About me
I'm originally from Italy, currently based in Belgium. I am obsessed with long-term planning and am in constant search for effective ways to bring that into everything I do. I feel both excitement and despair for the world that surrounds us and like to surround myself with people who feel similarly. The amazing team I am currently part of not only feels the same way, but fights fearlessly for a more social, sustainable, feminist, welcoming and inclusive Europe. I work as project manager at the Federation of Young European Greens.
I interest myself in anti-capitalist activism, environmental justice, anti-oppression methods, design thinking and the negative effects of the internet on our mental health and human connections.
I became engaged with and active in green politics during the European elections in 2019, both at the national level working on the Italian campaign, and at the European level leading a team of digital volunteers for the European Greens. From there, I've had the pleasure to join events and work with hundreds of young Greens from all across Europe.
The list of skills and experience that I offer is summarised below. If you contact me for any event, you should know that youth empowerment is a pillar of the work I do. Young people deserve to be part of each and every discussion where decisions are taken and ideas are shaped that will impact their future. If you recognise that you are not having enough conversation with young people and want to do better, I am sure we can find a way to make that happen.
I prefer not to fly for environmental reasons and adore long journeys by land and testing new European night-train routes.
My skills
Why you should work with me
We all come from slightly or very different backgrounds shaped by the cultural contexts that we have encountered, and are further impacted by a variety of personal experiences. We all benefit from a different amount of privileges and suffer diverse forms of oppression.
In this complexity, a safe space does not exist. However, striving for safe(r) spaces when uniting for a common cause is fundamental and should be the basis for any green gathering. This way we achieve interactions that are really Greenr. We do so by starting from the individuals involved in the organisations, the invitees, the preparatory teams, the organisation of the physical space in which they are hosted, and the type of sessions.
A simple panel discussion can easily overturn the usually perceived structure of power that divides speakers and experts from the public when, instead of ending with the classical Q&A, it opens discussion through more interactive forms such as a fishbowl dialogue, where the audience is invited to share thoughts and ask their questions but occupying an empty chair close to the speakers to do so.
There are many similar examples, but in general the need to put in place methods for inclusivity increases when a variety of voices is present in the room. And the latter is often an important prerequisite for creating impactful conversation and change for a broader group of people, and challenging the status quo to tackle inequalities and find innovative solutions to the presented problems.
These methods are applicable to events, training, sessions, webinars, gatherings of many types and focusing on a huge diversity of green issues and topics.
My work experiences
- In January 2020 I became the project manager at Federation of Young European Greens (FYEG). Responsible for the organisation of the international activities, I lead the volunteer team of educational facilitators in the creation of a one-year long programme focused on the just transition. With 2020 adaptations, the programme has been partly moved online and has actually led to a successful series of webinars called Just Transition Learning Labs.
- My experience as a Team Leader for the European Green Party’s digital volunteer community and my involvement with Europa Verde’s team in Rome for the European elections (both in 2019), had me carrying out various tasks, such as event-organising, digital organising, webcare, partner reach-out, external communications, newsletter-writing, setting agendas, public speaking and more.
- Thanks to my participation as Preparatory Team member for various FYEG and CDN activities in 2019, as well as though the preparation of a feminist hackathon on social rights in Italy, I became more and more fond and gained experience in methods of NFE which now guide all my educational and facilitating work. Through the experience gathered in these informal settings, I wrote and designed Hold Your Local Hackathon on Social Rights, a toolkit for green training and capacity building for the Green European Foundation.
- Finally, I am a member of the editorial board of The Ecosprinter, the participatory magazine powered by FYEG and have successfully coordinated the publication of a special printed issue on Social Rights, gathering contributions from Armenia to Norway.
My education & training
Academic education:
- Bachelor in Economics and Management at the trilingual Free University of Bozen (Italy).
Training:
- Training on community organising held by European Greens for the preparation of the volunteer digital campaign for the EU Elections 2019
- Training on organising and strategic organising tools from UK-based Organising for Change
- Safe Space training including methods from a variety of resources, such as Period's Red Flag System
My references
- Nathan Stewart - Digital Community Organiser at European Green Party:
"Cristiana showed her enthusiasm to help out very early in our campaign when she travelled to attend a training in Brussels. Our team identified her as a potential leader as we thought her passion and meticulous attention to detail would be of great use to us in our campaign.
Our suspicions were proved right when she took the initiative to put herself forward as our Team Leader, working directly with me to coordinate our different teams working on webcare, research and translations. She ended up being so helpful that the Italian Greens campaign, Europa Verde, approached her to run their national programme for them. This was disappointing to us in Brussels, but a huge endorsement of Cristiana’s talents.
Cristiana was always on call when I wanted to run something by her and her passion for climate justice would always remind me what was at stake in this election."